National Formosa University and the Quanta Culture and Education Foundation are jointly promoting the "Art Meanders" project. This year's exhibition, themed "Marketplace of Life: A Playful Journey Through a Millennium of Folk Art," is touring 12 schools in Yunlin County, guiding viewers on a journey from Han Dynasty marketplace scroll paintings some two thousand years ago all the way to contemporary Taiwanese everyday life. NFU held the launch ceremony for the touring exhibition on 9/16 (Tuesday), with both parties and participating schools continuing to deepen local arts engagement and inject energy into aesthetic education.
NFU and the Quanta Culture and Education Foundation have taken concrete action to bring art into schools, advancing the "Art Meanders" project into its 18th year. To date, the project has held a cumulative total of 177 exhibitions in the Yunlin region, attracting nearly 230,000 visitors. This year's exhibition begins its tour at NFU, and will continue over the coming year to 11 local elementary and junior high schools, helping art education take root at an early stage.
Li Yen-Liang, Section Chief of Social Education at the Yunlin County Government's Department of Education, also attended the event, thanking the Quanta Culture and Education Foundation and NFU for jointly promoting the "Art Meanders" project and helping the county government advance arts education. He noted that the "Art Meanders" project brings art from across history and around the world into schools, allowing children to encounter art in the most natural way, and expressed hope that all 185 elementary and junior high schools in Yunlin County will join the "Art Meanders" alliance, making art a part of children's everyday lives.
Wu Wan-Chuan, Associate Director of the Quanta Culture and Education Foundation's Arts and Culture Division, stated that this exhibition also marks the foundation's first time changing its curatorial approach for an East Asian art exhibition. Moving beyond the traditional framework of introducing artists through art history, the exhibition adopts a theme-based curatorial approach, centered on "Marketplace of Life," connecting to children's everyday experiences through food, clothing, housing, transportation, education, and entertainment, allowing them to see how everyday, familiar local industries can also become elements of art, and to gain a deeper understanding of local culture.
NFU Vice President Chen Ta-Cheng stated that art should not be seen as something lofty or distant, but rather as something closer to daily life and the people around us. He noted that this exhibition's theme, "the marketplace," is one of the settings that best captures the actual environment of a city, while also serving as a microcosm of human relationships, culture, and the pulse of society. He also thanked the Quanta Culture and Education Foundation for its support of the "Art Meanders" project, giving both NFU students and local elementary and junior high school students the opportunity to engage closely with art.
This exhibition uses "the marketplace" as its entry point, organized into four exhibition zones: "The Bustling Market Is Open," "Curiosities and Wonders Await Here," "Lanterns and Decorations for the Festival," and "Wandering the Market in Search of Treasure," featuring a total of 23 works. These include rubbings of Han Dynasty marketplace brick paintings, the Song Dynasty master painter Zhang Zeduan's famous work "Along the River During the Qingming Festival," and important modern Taiwanese painter Li Shih-Chiao's work "Market Entrance," among other classic pieces. Through the brushstrokes of artists across the ages, viewers will discover that the marketplace is not merely a place for buying and selling, but also embodies the full spectrum of everyday life and the spirit of its era.
The exhibition runs from today through 9/29 (Monday) on the 1st floor of Building 3, NFU. It will subsequently tour to elementary and junior high schools in Yunlin County, including Gukeng Junior High/Elementary School, Jiaxing Elementary School, Gongcheng Elementary School, Yunlin Elementary School, Feng'an Elementary School, Douliu Elementary School, Guangxing Elementary School, Yuanchang Elementary School, Xinsheng Elementary School, Zhongzheng Elementary School, and Lunbei Elementary School.
Article provided by: Art Center
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| This exhibition includes rubbings of Han Dynasty marketplace brick paintings and classic works by contemporary Taiwanese painter Li Shih-Chiao, among others. | |
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| NFU Vice President Chen Ta-Cheng notes that art should be close to daily life and the people around us, thanking the "Art Meanders" project for providing resources to bring students in Yunlin closer to art. |
NFU and the Quanta Culture and Education Foundation partner with 11 elementary and junior high schools in Yunlin to jointly launch the "Art Meanders" touring exhibition. (Photo courtesy of the Art Center) |